What Mike did was indeed unethical and fraudulent. It's also extremely foolish and shows poor judgment on his part -- his role at Netflix was to lead the organization to identify and implement the best solutions for the company and its customers. Instead he saw the opportunity for short-term personal gain at the company's expense, and by doing so he jeopardized his lifetime earnings potential that would have been many times greater. I hope this sends a message to anyone else in his position that there can be consequences.
I've been responsible for tens to hundreds of millions in annual expenditure, and to even have the appearance of vendor favoritism (let alone kickbacks, bribes, payoffs) is anathema to me. I have vendors that I like to work with because they do good work and they help me to make things happen, but even my favorite vendor is evaluated and earns the business on the merits every single time.
I have declined seemingly innocent gifts from vendors (and notified my management). I always turn down things like sports tickets and paid trips. I do let vendors pay for the occasional lunch, but only up to a point that I feel comfortable. Maintaining my independence is absolutely key to my role and my career.
I've also worked at places where even a paid for lunch is not acceptable. That won't influence my decision-making one iota, but if those are the rules then I follow them.
Not everyone does that, but I don't know anyone in the industry who thinks Mike's behavior is OK. Anyone working for me who made unjustifiable decisions with vendor agreements would make me re-evaluate their position -- and if I found a pattern along the lines of Mike's behavior, they would be dismissed and sued just like him.